Many uses of tobacco have been proposed. For example, tobacco has been smoked in pipes, and tobacco also has incorporated into tobacco burning smoking articles, such as cigarettes and cigars. See, for example, Tobacco Production, Chemistry and Technology, Davis et al. (Eds.) (1999), which is incorporated herein by reference. There also have been proposed various ways of providing many of the sensations of smoking, but without delivering considerable quantities of incomplete combustion and pyrolysis products that result from burning tobacco. See, for example, the background art set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 7,753,056 to Borschke et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 7,726,320 to Robinson et al.; US Pat. Pub. Nos. 2014/0060555 to Chang et al. and 2014/0270730 to DePiano et al.; and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/098,137, filed Dec. 6, 2013 to Ademe et al.; which are incorporated herein by reference. Tobacco also has been enjoyed in a so-called “smokeless” form. See, for example, the background art set forth in US Pat. Pub. Nos. 2014/0271952 to Mua et al. and 2012/0272976 to Byrd et al., which are incorporated herein by reference.
Through the years, various treatment methods and additives have been proposed for altering the overall character or nature of tobacco materials utilized in tobacco products. For example, tobacco materials have been treated with additives, and treatment conditions used during the processing of those tobacco materials have been controlled, in order to alter the chemistry or sensory properties of smokeless tobacco products produced from such tobacco materials, and, in the case of smokable tobacco materials, to alter the chemistry or sensory properties of mainstream smoke generated by smoking articles incorporating such tobacco materials. See, for example, the types of enzymes and microorganisms (e.g., bacteria, fungi and yeast) employed and/or controlled during tobacco processing for the purpose of altering the chemical makeup of that tobacco set forth in US Pat. Pub. No. 2014/0299136 to Moldoveanu et al., which is incorporated herein by reference.
It would be desirable to provide further methods for altering the character and nature of components of a plant, in order to provide plant-based compositions and formulations useful for human consumption. In particular, it would be desirable to provide processed tobaccos, and particularly processed tobaccos useful for the production of smokeless tobacco products, that result from processes that have the ability to control or alter the chemical composition of those processed tobaccos.